Nitriles amidase

Hydrolysis of Nitriles. The chemical hydrolysis of nitriles to acids takes place only under strong acidic or basic conditions and may be accompanied by formation of unwanted and sometimes toxic by-products. Enzymatic hydrolysis of nitriles by nitrile hydratases, nittilases, and amidases is often advantageous since amides or acids can be produced under very mild conditions and in a stereo- or regioselective manner (114,115). 

There are two distinct classes of enzymes that hydrolyze nitriles. Nittilases (EC 3.5.5. /) hydrolyze nittiles directiy to corresponding acids and ammonia without forming the amide. In fact, amides are not substrates for these enzymes. Nittiles also may be first hydrated by nittile hydratases to yield amides which are then converted to carboxyUc acid with amidases. This is a two-enzyme process, in which enantioselectivity is generally exhibited by the amidase, rather than the hydratase. 

As illustrated in Figure A8.3 nitrilases catalyse conversions of nitriles directly into the corresponding carboxylic adds (route A), while other nitrile converting enzymes, die nitrile hydratases, catalyse the conversion of nitriles into amides (route B) which, by the action of amidases usually present in the whole cell preparations, are readily transformed into carboxylic adds (route C). 

L-Amino adds could be produced from D,L-aminonitriles with 50% conversion using Pseudomonas putida and Brembacterium sp respectively, the remainder being the corresponding D-amino add amide. However, this does not prove the presence of a stereoselective nitrilase. It is more likely that the nitrile hydratase converts the D,L-nitrile into the D,L-amino add amide, where upon a L-spedfic amidase converts the amide further into 50% L-amino add and 50% D-amino add amide. In this respect the method has no real advantage over the process of using a stereospecific L-aminopeptidase (vide supra). 

Enantioselective transformations of several cyclopropane or oxirane-containing nitriles were studied using nitrile-transforming enzymes [78]. Microbial Rhodococcus sp. whole cells containing a nitrile hydratase/amidase system hydrolyzed a number... 

Both cis- and trans-chrysanthemic nitriles and amides were resolved into highly enantiopure amides and acids by Rhodococcus sp. whole cells [85]. The overall enantioselectivity of reactions of nitriles originated from the combined effects of a higher (lJ )-selective amidase and a (IJ )-selective nitrile hydratase (Figure 6.29). Chrysanthemic acids are related to constituents of pyrethrum flowers and insecticides. 

The biocatalytic differentiation of enantiotopic nitrile groups in prochiral or meso substrates has been studied by several research groups. For instance, the nitrilase-catalyzed desymmetrization of 3-hydroxyglutaronitrile [92,93] followed by an esterification provided ethyl-(Jl)-4-cyano-3-hydroxybutyrate, a useful intermediate in the synthesis of cholesterol-lowering dmg statins (Figure 6.32) [94,95]. The hydrolysis of prochiral a,a-disubstituted malononitriles by a Rhodococcus strain expressing nitrile hydratase/amidase activity resulted in the formation of (R)-a,a-disubstituted malo-namic acids (Figure 6.33) [96]. 

The discovery and exploitation of enzymes in aldoxime-nitrile pathway nitrile hydratase, amidase, nitrilase, aldoxime dehydratase, etc., are shown along with the use of methodologies, such as organic chemistry, microbial screening by enrichment and acclimation culture techniques, enzyme purification, gene cloning, molecular screening by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). 

We also found that the occurrence of aldoxime dehydratase is as wide as that for nitrile-degrading enzymes such as nitrile hydratase, amidase and/or nitri-lase. All of the nitrile degraders hitherto isolated contained aldoxime dehydratase activities. The author would like to propose that the pathway in which aldoximes are successively degraded via nitrile could be named as the aldoxime-nitrile pathway (Fig. 1). 

The dehydration reaction of aldoxime to form nitriles using the resting cells of Rhodococcus sp. YH3-3 was optimized. We found that the enzyme was induced by aldoxime and catalyzed the stoichiometric synthesis of nitriles from aldoximes at pH 7.0 and 30°C. Phenylacetonitrile once synthesized from phenylacetaldoxime was hydrolyzed to phenylacetic acid, since the strain has nitrile degradation enzymes such as nitrile hydratase and amidase. We have been successful in synthesizing phenylacetonitrile and other nitriles stoichiometrically by a selective inactivation of nitrile hydratase by heating the cells at 40°C for 1 h. Various nitriles were synthesized under optimized conditions from aldoximes in good yields. 

Tauber MM, A Cavaco-Paulo, K-H Robra, GM Gubitz (2000) Nitrile hydratase and amidase from Rhodococ-cus rhodochrous hydrolyze acrylic fibers and granular polyacrylonitrile. Appl Environ Microbiol 66 1634-1638. 

There are two pathways for the degradation of nitriles (a) direct formation of carboxylic acids by the activity of a nitrilase, for example, in Bacillus sp. strain OxB-1 and P. syringae B728a (b) hydration to amides followed by hydrolysis, for example, in P. chlororaphis (Oinuma et al. 2003). The monomer acrylonitrile occurs in wastewater from the production of polyacrylonitrile (PAN), and is hydrolyzed by bacteria to acrylate by the combined activity of a nitrilase (hydratase) and an amidase. Acrylate is then degraded by hydration to either lactate or P-hydroxypropionate. The nitrilase or amidase is also capable of hydrolyzing the nitrile group in a number of other nitriles (Robertson et al. 2004) including PAN (Tauber et al. 2000). 

Some of the industrial biocatalysts are nitrile hydralase (Nitto Chemicals), which has a productivity of 50 g acrylamide per litre per hour penicillin G amidase (Smith Kline Beechem and others), which has a productivity of 1 - 2 tonnes 6-APA per kg of the immobilized enzyme glucose isomerase (Novo Nordisk, etc.), which has a productivity of 20 tonnes of high fmctose syrup per kg of immobilized enzyme (Cheetham, 1998). Wandrey et al. (2000) have given an account of industrial biocatalysis past, present, and future. It appears that more than 100 different biotransformations are carried out in industry. In the case of isolated enzymes the cost of enzyme is expected to drop due to an efficient production with genetically engineered microorganisms or higher cells. Rozzell (1999) has discussed myths and realities... 

Reisinger, C., Osprian, I., Glieder, A. et al. (2004) Enzymatic hydrolysis of cyanohydrins with recombinant nitrile hydratase and amidase from Rhodococcus erythropolis. Biotechnology Letters, 26, 1675-1680. 

Yeom, S.-J., Kim, H.-J. and Oh, D.-K. (2007) Enantioselective production of 2,2-dimethylcyclopropane carboxylic acid from 2,2-dimethylcyclopropane carbonitrile using the nitrile hydratase and amidase of Rhodococcus erythropolis ATCC 25544. Enzyme and Microbial Technology, 41, 842-848. 

Desymmetrization is not restricted to a single class of enzyme. For example, Madrell et reported the gram-scale preparation of a key intermediate of the lovastatin lactone through the desymmetrization of 3-(benzyloxy)glutaronitrile using whole cells from Brevibacterium R312. The transformation occurs via a dual nitrile hydratase/amidase-catalysed hydrolysis to afford acid in 65 % yield and 88 % ee (Scheme 1.49). 

Bacteria, Aberdeen, UK), was found to have a highly active nitrile hydratase/amidase enzyme system, based on whole-cell biotransformation experiments. Subsequently, individual enzymes (nitrile hydratase and amidase) from this strain were cloned and expressed separately in E. coli However, distribution of some strains or other materials from these public collections may be limited, usually as a result of the restrictions on their commercial use imposed by intellectual property rights. 

Nitrilases, Nitrile Hydratases, and Amidases 5.03.8.1 The Reactions and the Enzymes... 

A potential versatile route into a-amino acids and their derivatives is via a combination of (i) nitrile hydratase/amidase-mediated conversion of substituted malo-nonitriles to the corresponding amide/acid followed by (ii) stereospecific Hofmann rearrangement of the amide group to the corresponding amine. Using a series of a,a-disubstituted malononitriles 14, cyanocarboxamides 15 and bis-carboxamides 16, the substrate specificity of the nitrile hydratase and amidase from Rhodococcus rhodochrous IF015564 was initially examined (Scheme 2.7). The amidase hydrolyzed the diamide 16 to produce (R)-17 with 95% conversion and 98%e.e. Amide 17 was then chemically converted to a precursor of (S)-a-methyldopa. It was found... 

Hensel et al. have also reported the use of a-amino nitriles as substrates (Scheme 2.10). They discovered a number of new bacterial isolates with stereose-lechve nitrile hydratase achvity. A combination of stereoselechve nitrile hydratases and amidases was shown to be responsible for the production of phenylglycine 24 from nitrile 22 via amide 23. By investigating five isolates both (R)- and (S)-phenylglycine were produced in greater than 99% e.e. [12]. 

Scheme 2.11 Synthesis of amino acids from amino nitriles using a nitrile hydratase and amidase.

Nitriles are interesting precursors of both amides and carboxylic acids. In vivo there are two pathways for the bioconversion of nitriles to carboxylic acids (Scheme 6.19). In the first method a nitrilase catalyzes the enantioselechve hydrolysis of a racemic or prochiral nitrile. The second pathway involves a two-enzyme cascade in which an aselective nitrile hydratase (NHase) catalyzes the hydration of the racemic nitrile to the racemic amide followed by an amidase-catalyzed enantioselechve hydrolysis to the carboxylic acid. The amidase is generally, but not always, (S)-selechve, resulting in the formahon of a 1 1 mixture of the (S)-acid... 

Since amides are often used as acyl donors in the enantioselective acylation of amines, a combination of a NHase and an amidase could, in principle, be used for the direct acylation of an amine by the nitrile precursor of the amide. An example of such a one-pot reaction is shown in Scheme 6.20. The (R)-enantiomer of phenylglycine nitrile undergoes NHase-catalyzed conversion to the corresponding (R)-amide and the latter reacts in situ with 7-aminodeacetoxycephalosporanic acid, in the presence of penidlhn amidase, to afford the cephalosporin antibiotic, cephalexin [39]. 

PAN was for a long time thought to be resistant to microbial attack. However, various bacteria that produced nitrile-converting enzymes were isolated from waste-waters of factories producing PAN fibre. Eor example, a nitrile hydratase/amidase enzyme system was studied from Mesorhizobium sp. E28 [68]. Also, bacteria (namely Ralstonia solanacearum and Acidovorax avenae) were used for the removal of acrylic acid from such waste-waters [69]. Later, on the basis of NMR... 

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